Vietnamese high school exchange students go missing in Canada

Ngan Ngoc Nguyen and her cousin Diu Thu Thi Nguyen, both 17-year-old high school students, were reported missing Monday by the families they have been staying with in the eastern province of New Brunswick, local police said in a press release.

They were last seen on November 9 when they boarded a bus heading for Montreal City, Quebec at a bus depot in Moncton City.

Police speculated the girls might have been heading towards the Toronto City area in Ontario.

A search operation is ongoing, with the police enlisting help from the public.

Last year, the number of Vietnamese students in Canada grew 89 percent from 2016, from about 7,900 to about 15,000, according to official figures from the Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada, cited by the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

There were around 130,000 Vietnamese studying abroad at all levels last year, and their top five destinations were Japan, the U.S., Australia, China and the U.K., according to government figures.

UPDATED: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the girls have been found safe in Toronto on November 21.